Chapter 785: Chapter 771: Symptoms

A certain no-man’s land in the north.

Originally, there were two cities nearby, but neither was suitable for defense, so during the Dragon Disaster, they became abandoned cities, and the population relocated to other stronger cities.

The no-man’s land signifies reduced magic power consumption, so Lin Jun tossed the growing Number Four here.

By now, Number Four was several times larger than a giant Puki, with a size comparable to the thickness of a Chis’s rolled-up column of flesh.

It lay on the ground like a small white mountain.

And at this moment, there was a figure actively running back and forth on the mountain!

Inanna used magic to transform herself into a small giant, her hands clinging to the edge of the massive mushroom cap as she ran swiftly along the grooves of the cap’s rim, turning back at the end—running and turning again, with hurried steps and her breathing vaguely visible in the wind.

After a long while, the giant body sustained by magic power dissipated with a "boom", and Inanna fell from mid-air, gently landing on the massive and soft mushroom body.

She lay on her back, her chest heaving violently, sweat soaking her pink hair.

"Number Four, how is it?" she asked in the Fungal Network, her voice laced with unsteady breaths.

"Huh? Has it already started... no, is it over already?!" After a brief silence, the Puki mountain beneath Inanna shook violently, "I feel nothing! Pink Puki, you’re too small, I can’t feel you! Waaaah..."

It twisted its body, showering spores like a blizzard, enveloping the whole area in a gray-white spore fog.

The flame-clad attire on Inanna’s body automatically appeared, the flames flickering, burning the approaching spores into fine ashes.

After quite a while, Number Four finally calmed down, and the spores slowly settled. Inanna had already returned to the ground, holding the edge of Number Four’s mushroom cap with both hands, her eyes full of affection, "Number Four, perhaps... let’s just give up. I’ll tell the boss to abandon the Leviathan."

"Aban...don?" Number Four’s mushroom body froze.

"Yes, while there’s still time."

Number Four was silent for a moment, then its massive body began to tremble, forcing Inanna to retreat again with showered spores.

It didn’t cry; Puki doesn’t cry, but the intent was filled with a sobbing sense: "No... no way. I am a proud member of the Mushroom Race; I cannot give up here... cannot... waaah..."

"Number Four!"

"Pink Puki!"

...

"Boss, I think we need to produce more high-tier Pukis along the coastline. The ones stationed there were carefully selected veterans who became Puki Masters during the Tribal Wars; they are fully capable of unleashing the full potential of high-tier Pukis."

To resist the approaching mist, Little Pig organized dozens of elite squads, each with ten to twenty Puki Masters, which was a relatively reasonable number.

To ensure the mist could be successfully blocked and delayed, Little Pig obviously wanted to elevate these squads’ strength to another level.

"Hmm... alright!" Lin Jun agreed.

However, this meant Number Four had to be relocated, and the only direction left was eastward.

"There’s one more thing, boss." Little Pig spoke again, his tone more hesitant than before, "Initially, I didn’t want to trouble you with this, but it’s been half a month, and Xing Huo still hasn’t identified the cause. There have been two more cases recently, and I’m worried... could this be some form of disease?"

Saying so, Little Pig brought up several scenes.

These were images from medical centers in different cities under the Fungus Castle’s jurisdiction, showing several patients.

The first image depicted a Lizardman.

The Lizardman’s scales were originally distinct with clear edges, but now the scales had all merged together, the gaps vanished.

His arm remained in an outstretched position, the elbow joint locked by that layer of hard shell, unable to bend.

Beside him, a physician used a thin-bladed knife, carefully shaving off the layer of shell.

Another image showed a human.

He lay face down on the bed, his back’s clothing cut open, revealing a newly grown tail at the coccyx.

It wasn’t long, just peeking out from the hem, grayish-brown, bare at the end.

The third image displayed a half-demon, troubled by the rapidly growing horns on his head...

There were seven or eight similar cases, all having grown things that weren’t supposed to belong to them... horns, shells, tails, scales, and more.

"When did this situation start?" Lin Jun asked.

"The earliest reported case was a month ago, but from my further investigation, similar mutations occurred even before the Northern Territory battle. However, since they were isolated cases that didn’t affect normal life, they weren’t given much attention. Until recently, when several cases occurred simultaneously, and Xing Huo tried it, even the Water of Life couldn’t heal them... Boss, could this be some unknown disease or curse?"

Even though Lin Jun had never told anyone he could directly see the panels, Little Pig, as the Fungus Castle’s commander, often assisted Lin Jun in command, and although not knowing the specifics, had some idea of the boss’s abilities.

After carefully examining their panels, Lin Jun made a judgment: "It’s not a curse, nor a disease."

"Then... what is it?"

Unusually, Lin Jun didn’t answer immediately but said, "Even I need to observe this a bit more; notify me immediately if there are similar symptoms afterward."

"Yes."

After finishing the communication, Lin Jun reopened the panel of the first Lizardman.

His status bar was very clean, apart from the [Parasite] status that all Fungus People had, there was indeed no cursed or diseased status.

No anomalies, so naturally, the Water of Life couldn’t cure it.

The real issue lay in the skill bar.

[Chitin Shell Level 2]

This skill, which shouldn’t have appeared on a Lizardman, was the culprit causing his body’s mutation.

The reason Lin Jun had some doubts was because he absolutely hadn’t added this skill to the Lizardman—he wasn’t D Level personnel.

And that human had an extra [Tail Whip Level 1].

The other patients had similar situations, with some low-level skills added, which caused them to grow corresponding things.

If Lin Jun were an ordinary person, he might think he’d been muddled sometime and accidentally caused it.

But Lin Jun’s spirit had never been in a daze.

The issue, though, was if Lin Jun hadn’t added them himself, how did these skills appear on their bodies?

Lin Jun even suspected that these few were not all there was.

Since it was just an extra skill, could it be that some Fungus People had skills that weren’t visibly affecting their bodies, thus going unnoticed, or the individuals themselves didn’t realize it?

Moreover, this is just the case of Fungus People; what if there were similar symptoms among the Puki Masters in the United Kingdom?

Though the cause was still unknown, it was very similar to "adding skills" symptoms, probably inexplicably connected to himself...

Lin Jun intended to look into the United Kingdom’s situation to see if there were similar instances.

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